Keeping Up Appearances
by nathanhaley
Summary: It takes place after the S2 finale. The couples as of right now are: NH, JP and BL. The couples are subject to change at any time.
1. Chapter 1

Peyton Sawyer was depressed. Hell, some might even call it suicidal. But she wouldn't. She wasn't at that point. She was always taught to not lose all reason over some boy. But Jake Jagielski wasn't just _some_ boy. He was more precisely the boy she unexpectedly found herself falling in love with. She had always thought that Nathan and Haley were just going through some phase. She used to think that you couldn't fall in love that fast. _That_ young. Boy, had her heart proven her wrong.

Nathan was exhausted walking towards the front door of his house. Dragging his suitcases up to porch, he sighed and looked down at the suitcase in his hand. She had given this to him. He shook his head, trying to erase the image out of his head. He pushed open the door to reveal his mother walking towards him.

"Oh, Nathan. I'm glad you're here." Deb said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I've been here alone all night."

"Sorry about that." Nathan replied. "I had to take care of something." He replied quickly, hoping that his mother would get the point and leave him alone. He wasn't in the mood to listen to another one of her rants about Dan.

"Oh, okay." Deb said, obviously not getting the point. "Do you need help with anything?"

"I just need to get one more bag out of the car." Nathan said, gesturing towards the door.

"Ok, well, hurry up." Deb said while hugging her son. She didn't want him to be out this late.

Nathan waited until his mother walked up the stairs, and turned the corner towards her room before he proceeded over towards the door. With one swift turn of the knob, he opened the door.

And there she was.

Brooke slammed the car door shut. 'Screw that,' she thought. She went to the driver's seat to pay the cab driver. Thrusting the 10 dollars in his face, she threw in a snarky comment. "Thanks for making me pay you my last 10 dollars, only to have you drive me back right where I started."

"Anytime, Miss," the cab driver, replied, gratefully accepting the money.

Brooke rolled her eyes as she proceeded to walk up the stairs to Peyton's house. Looking under the doormat, where her best friend always kept the extra key, she unlocked the door only to be greeted by an empty household.

Brooke, exasperated, threw her arms up in the air. "Well, that's just friggin' awesome, Peyton. Right when I need you the most, you decide to go all MIA on me."

Sighing, she threw her luggage on the floor and walked up the stairs towards Peyton's room.

Sighing, Lucas unlocked his front door. He had just returned from the beach with Peyton. Peyton had offered to give him a ride home, but he gratefully refused. He needed to allow himself time to think about everything. About Haley's decision to remain in New York, Brooke's decision to leave Tree Hill, and more importantly, his mother's decision to go to New Zealand.

That fact was plaguing him the most. He liked Andy, he really did. He just didn't know if he was worth flying across the world for, but still he supported his mother. What it all really boiled down to was decisions. Decisions. Decision-making was not his area of expertise. He constantly avoided making them.

And this time would prove to be no different.


	2. Chapter 2

"_Truth, like surgery, may hurt, but it cures." – Han Suyin_

Brooke awoke to the sound of music blasting outside of Peyton's window. She had accidentally fallen asleep waiting for Peyton. 'Loser rock, punk music.' Brooke sighed, annoyed. "Must be Peyton."

Quickly getting out of Peyton's unmade bed, Brooke flipped the light switch and sat at the edge of the bed, ready to question her best friend about her whereabouts.

She was busy looking at her nails, thinking that she desperately needed a manicure, when all of a sudden Peyton entered the room. Peyton, to say the least, looked horrible. And saying she looked horrible was the most generous compliment that Brooke could offer right now.

"Hi" a timid Haley said, weakly. Her voice sounded so drained. Not how he had once remembered it.

"Hey." Nathan replied, her voice lacking any real emotion.

"I know you told me not to come back…." Haley started, unsure of what to say next.

"Apparently, you didn't listen to me about that either." Nathan snapped, harshly.

"Nathan…." Haley said, while trying to control the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes.

"And oh, btw," Nathan said while gesturing to close the door, "You were evicted from the apartment." With that, he proceeded to slam the door in Haley's grief-stricken face.

Lucas was sitting on his bed reading The Great Gatsby, or well trying to anyway. His mind was so consumed with thoughts of his shattered life, that he almost didn't hear the knock at the door.

Groaning, he closed his book, and walked over to open the door. He was shocked and surprisingly comforted to see his best friend standing before him.

Lucas could tell by the tears streaming down Haley's face that she had already seen Nathan.

Sighing, he pulled her into a hug. He then started to gently stroke her hair, when she began to sob uncontrollably.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chaos and Order are not enemies, only opposites. - _Richard Garriott

Haley awoke to the sound of breathing in her ear. She had fallen asleep next to Lucas. 'His breathing doesn't even sound the same.' She sighed to herself. Had she really been away for that long? According to Nathan, that answer was a yes.

"Are you talking to yourself again?" Lucas slowly opened his eyes, and smiled at his best friend.

"Well…." Haley began to trail off. "I thought I was thinking to myself, but apparently I was doing that thing when you think your thinking to yourself but in reality…."

"Are you rambling again?" Lucas interrupted her, chuckling.

Haley gently shoved his shoulder. "Shut up! I have you know that most people adore my rambling."

"I adore both you and your rambling." Lucas smiled slightly.

"Aww, thanks, Luke." Haley replied, using her old nickname for him.

"And for the record…" Lucas sighed. "You have been away for far too long."

Peyton awoke to the light rays shining through her bedroom window. 'Oh great.' She thought to herself. 'Another pointless day.'

She looked over to Brooke who was sleeping soundly on the opposite end of the bed. 'I wonder what happened with her and Lucas.' She sighed just thinking about it.

Her and Brooke didn't get a chance to talk much last night. When she arrived home, she found Brooke in her room awaiting an explanation. Peyton never gave her one. Instead she just broke down in Brooke's arms. She was a little embarrassed about her behavior, and she hoped that Brooke would forget it ever happened. She knew this wasn't going to be the case.

Her thoughts were confirmed when suddenly Brooke woke up five minutes later.

Brooke rolled the covers off from her legs, and proceeded to stretch out her arms. She then gazed over at Peyton. "Hey, P. Sawyer."

Peyton rolled her eyes, recalling Brooke's nickname for her. "Hey Brooke. How'd you sleep?"

"Oh, I slept fine." Brooke retorted. "But that's not the problem."

Peyton sighed. She knew where this was leading.

Brooke scooted over closer to Peyton. "The problem is that you came home at like twelve o' clock in the morning, crying hysterically."

"It was nothing, Brooke." Peyton lied, hoping that Brooke would catch the hint.

"It was most certainly not nothing." Brooke challenged her. "Nothing would be squashing a bug with your boots…although that's probably not such a shining example since you wouldn't want to ruin your boots just to kill a bug, and then that would turn into something cause then you'd have to go to Macy's to buy a new pair of boots, only to have them COMPLETELY rip you off, and then you'd be mad because you wasted your money over something which…"

Peyton threw her hands up in defeat. "Brooke! I get it. Squashing a bug with your boots is a no-no."

"Right." Brooke smiled, happy that Peyton got the point. Maybe her friend wasn't so completely clueless when it came to the matter of fashion. Then Brooke realized that they weren't even talking about clothes.

"Woops." Brooke sighed, feeling guilty. "I completely got off track again, didn't I?"

"Only a little." Peyton chuckled slightly.


End file.
